CRITERIA OF NORMALITY 1

Criteria of Normality

Clinical Psychology-Definition

“Clinical psychology is a broad branch of psychology that focuses on diagnosing and

treating mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.”

Or

“Clinical psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the assessment and

treatment of mental illness, abnormal behavior, and psychiatric problems.”

Or

Witmer, a former student of Wilhelm Wundt, defined clinical psychology as "The study

of individuals, by observation or experimentation, with the intention of promoting change."

Criteria of Normality and Abnormality

Normality is usually considered to be the common occurrence, whilst abnormality is

usually defined as undesirable behavior and psychological disorders. Abnormality is sometimes

defined as the subjective experience of feeling “not normal” – Example: feeling intense anxiety,

unhappiness, or distress.

Normality

Normality is what the majority people approve or follow; society perceives or labels

"normal" as "good” and people who conform to social norms are normal.

Or
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The world health organization (WHO) considers normality to be a state of complete

physical, mental, and social well-being.

Or

Normality has been defined as patterns of behavior or personality traits that are typical or

that conform to some standard of proper and acceptable ways of behaving and being. The use of

terms such as typical or acceptable, however, has been criticized because they are ambiguous,

involve value judgments, and vary from one culture to another.

Mental Health

The absence of mental disorder is defined in the DSM-V (2013) as;

“A mental disorder is a behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern associated with

distress (e.g., a painful symptom), or with a significantly increased risk of suffering, death, pain,

disability, or an important loss of freedom. In addition, the syndrome or pattern must not be

merely an expected and culturally sanctioned response to a particular event”

Jahoda (1958) attempted to establish what is abnormal by identifying the characteristics of

people who are normal. She identified six characteristics of mental health:

 Efficient self-perception. Awareness of characteristics that constitute one's knowledge.

 Realistic self-esteem and acceptance. When expectations are realistic, it is easy for us to

experience success and feel personally valuable.

 Voluntary control of behavior. The management of acts or behaviors by intentional

action.
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 True perception of the world. Positive and negative thoughts can become self-fulfilling

prophecies.If you’re positive the world can’t bring you down than you are living a normal

life and if you can’t think positive then you can’t live a normal life.

 Sustaining relationships and giving affection. A great deal of evidence suggests that

the ability to form a stable relationship begins in infancy, in a child's earliest experiences

with a caregiver who reliably meets the infant's needs for food, care, protection,

stimulation, and social contact. Those relationships are not destiny, but they appear to

establish patterns of relating to others.

 Self-direction and productivity.Self-direction can be positive and negative. A person

responsible for his/her business is self directed.

Characteristics of Normal Person

The following are the chief characteristics of the normal individual:

1. Sociability. A social environment is what man lives in, and every society has its own

traditions, modes of accepted behavior, forms and functions, that prevail in it. An individual who

conforms to them in his conduct is called normal.

2. Balance and fulfillment of Needs. Besides sociability, another quality of the normal

being is his complete fulfillment of his needs, which makes for balance and strength that retains

a balanced outlook. An individual of this kind is not inclined to become distributed at the

smallest problem, illness, trouble, exhaustion, etc but makes concerted efforts to solve them. His

routine of life is regular source such as employment in offices or business. They are more

inclined to combat their difficulties, to come to some reasonable compromise with them, as also

to avoid extremes in most matters.

3. Health, Security and Balance. The normal individuals make conscious or

unconscious effort to maintain their social, economic, physical and psychological health, as well

as security. In a general sort of way, their behavior does not violate the cannons of morality.

They are usually aware of the objectives of their life and they exert themselves to achieve this.

Success makes them more enthusiastic, but failure does not deter them .Their past experience are

lessons for them, and their future an opportunity to benefit by them.

Peace, comfort and security are what they want in life. Such qualities as hope, balance,

thoughtfulness, work, effort, practically and self-guidance are part of their mental makeup.

Ambition is natural to them as it is to all others, but it is never allowed to blur all other things to

their vision.

Criteria of Normality and Abnormality

i. Norm violation. A person's thinking or behavior is classified as abnormal if

it violates the (unwritten) rules about what is expected or acceptable behavior in a

particular social group.

ii. Statistical Rarity. Statistical rarity is something that deviates from what is considered

average. Something that lies outside of the range of the majority can be considered

abnormal. For example, someone who has a significantly lower I.Q. than the average

adult may be seen as abnormal.

iii. Personal Discomfort. In psychology, personal distress is an aversive, self-focused

emotional reaction to the apprehension or comprehension of another's emotional state

or condition.

iv. Maladaptive Behavior. Maladaptive behavior is a type of behavior that is often used

to reduce one's anxiety, but the result is dysfunctional and non-productive.

v. Deviation from Ideal Mental Health. This is a definition of abnormality. The idea is

that there are various theoretical descriptions of ‘normality’ and if someone does not fit

within this theoretical idea of normality their behavior is abnormal.

Jahoda(1958) identified six criteria relating to psychological health and well-being:

1. Positive attitudes towards the self. It includes self respect, self confidence, self reliance

and self acceptance.

2. Self-actualization. Mental health problems occur when we are prevented from fulfilling

our true potential.

3. Resistance to stress. Resistance to stress is an ability to withstand stress without causing

maladjustments or disorders. This criteria is that an individual should not feel under stress

and they should be able to handle stressful situations competently

4. Personal autonomy. These people are not dependent upon other people.

5. Accurate perception of reality. This criteria is focused on how the individual sees the

world around them and to achieve ideal mental health they should have a perspective that

is similar to how others see the world. This is focused very much on the distortions of

thinking that some people, e.g. people with schizophrenia, may experience. Jahoda stated

that for ideal mental health to be achieved the individual should experience all of these

criteria for optimum ideal mental health and that if some are not fulfilled the person will

experience difficulties

6. Environmental mastery. Having environmental mastery means that the person can

adapt to new situations and be at ease at all situations in their life.

Criteria of Abnormality
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It refers to those behaviors and psychological functioning that are considered different

from normal within a given society.

It had a varied number of conflicting definitions, till Comer (1998) came up with the theory of

‘Four Ds’, also known as the 4 main criteria of abnormal behavior.

i. Deviance. Deviance from behaviors, thoughts, and emotions considered normal in a

specific place and time and by specific people (norms).(Different, extreme behaviors such

as severe depression, sexual deviance, etc)

a. Deviance from the Cultural Norms

b. Deviance from the Statistical Norms

a. Deviance from Cultural Norms. Every culture has certain standards, norms and

yardsticks for acceptable behaviors. Behaviors deviating from these cultural norms or standards

are considered abnormal. The followers of cultural criteria perspective argue that each culture’s

definitions of responsibility for the members of that culture should be respected.

b. Deviance from Statistical Norms.The word abnormal means away from the normal or

away from the norm. Many characteristics such as height, weight and intelligence cover a range

of values, when measured over or away from norm. A person who is extremely intelligent or

happy would be classified as abnormal in accordance to the statistical results, hence, the concept

should be considered as more than just a statistical frequency.

ii. Distress

Behavior must be personally distressing before it can be labeled abnormal.(Behaviors that

upset the individual concerned, e.g.Paranoid).

iii. Dysfunctional
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Abnormal behavior tends to interfere with daily functioning. It so upsets, distracts or

confuses its victims that they cannot care for themselves properly.(Behaviors that interfere with

everyday functioning, e.g., substance abuse, agoraphobia)

iv. Danger

Psychological dysfunctioning is behavior that becomes dangerous to one or others. A

pattern of functioning that is marked by carelessness, poor judgment, hostility or

misinterpretations can threaten one’s own wellbeing and that of other people as well (Potentially

damaging behaviors, e.g., aggression, eating disorders). Although cited as a feature of

psychological abnormality, dangerousness is an exception rather than a rule.

References

Comer, R.J. (2014). Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology (7th ed.). New York: Woth

Publishers.

Davison, G. C., & Neale, J. M. (1998). Abnormal Psychology. New York: Wiley.

Lewis, A. (1953). “Health as a social concept”. The British Journal of Sociology 4(2), 109-124.

Peterson, C. (1996). The psychology of abnormality. Harcourt College Pub.

Jahoda, M. (1958). Current concepts of mental health. Marie Jahoda’s Current Concept of

Mental Health. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/